The Revenant
by Pichumina
Summary: Ghosts of the past are stirring, old wounds are reopening... A mystery has come to Gotahm city. And Nightwing needs to solve it before it's too late.


"...And in other news, Killer Croc has escaped Arkham Asylum once again and is going on a rampage in downtown Gotham."

Today was supposed to be his off day. He had come back to the Manor to visit Alfred and Bruce. He was not here on hero business. Bruce could take care of this.

"Batman is across town right now, busy with some attacks many believe the Riddler is behind, which leads us to wonder, was this planned in some way?"

God Dammit.

It didn't take long for him to suit up. It was almost second nature. Something he had learned from Bruce rather early on.

It took about five minutes to get there, even on Bruce's fasted bike. So he used that time to call Bruce.

"What is it you want, Grayson?" Damian picked up. Dick bit back a groan.

"We have code names for a reason, _Robin._"

Damian scoffed into the phone. "State your business, Nightwing. Father and I are busy." The com crackled and in the background, Dick heard an explosion.

"Killer Croc is attacking-"

"Killer Croc is attacking downtown Gotham, yes. We know." Bruce finally joined in.

Dick rolled his eyes and he leaned to the side, narrowly avoiding a car that decided to try and cut him off. "Hope I'm not interrupting anything important." Three minutes now.

"Is this an emergency, Nightwing?" Another explosion and on the other com Damian cursed. Dick was glad neither Bruce or Damian was around to see his smile.

"I just wanted to make sure that you aren't able to take this one." He used his foot to pivot the bike around a corner. He was starting to see rubble now, signs of a fight. Killer Croc had been there.

"We should be done with the Riddler soon. Keep him busy until then. Then you can get back to your 'Off day'." Damian made a nose, which Dick could tell was the start of some rant he was going to go on. Thank god these coms had an off switch.

Less than a minute now and Dick could tell that Killer Croc was close. The buildings were on the verge of collapsing, the first few floors riddled with holes. He could see people running the opposite direction, and if he looked close enough he could see what could only be bodies in the rubble. There was only one or two, which meant Killer Croc was keeping himself rather contained.

When he rounded the corner, he was expecting to see Killer Croc alone, probably going on another one of his rampages.

He was not expecting to see someone already there, fighting him and mostly successfully keeping him contained.

At first, he expected it to be Robin. Their outfit was black with flashes of yellow. But that made no sense. Robin and Batman were on the other side of the city.

Killer Croc was blocking his view, but they seemed to be holding their ground well enough, which was surprising. You needed to be quick to avoid Killer Croc, even if he wasn't using Venom.

Dick abandoned his bike, quick to get into the fight. Even if the person was holding their ground, he didn't want someone getting killed because they were trying to play the hero.

The other had been backed into a corner now, with Killer Croc towering over them. He could see them under Killer Croc's arm, their head tilted up to look up at him. He took off down the street, reaching into his belt to grab bomb from his belt, intending to at least distract Killer Croc.

Killer Croc was not anticipating Nightwing's approach, his attention fully on the person in front of him. So when the bombs that Nightwing had stuck to his tail exploded, he was thrown off guard, rearing back with a roar.

The other vigilante took that opportunity to leap up, using some of the nearby rubble to jump off of. With Killer Croc still recovering, they took the chance to use his head as another launching point, sending him toppling forward into the wall he had cornered them into. They landed next to Dick in a crouch, letting him finally get a good look at them. They were dressed in a black hoodie with gold trim and a gold helmet, almost reminiscent of Red Hoods. When they straightened up he could see that it was a woman. Other than that, he couldn't tell much. She was covered head to toe in black, although it all looked homemade save for the helmet.

"You shouldn't be here," Nightwing said, bracing himself as Killer Croc started to get his bearings again. "Leave this to the professionals, alright?"

She scoffed and shook her head. "Not a chance." Her voice was muffled by the helmet.

They were stopped from continuing when Killer Croc turned around once more, roaring. They lept apart, narrowly avoiding the blow Killer Croc aimed for them. Nightwing rolled and he pushed himself up, pulling out his batons. Fantastic, now he not only had to protect a citizen, but he had to fight Killer Croc as well.

It continued like that, with Nightwing and the other person landing a few hits, then jumping back from possibly fatal blows Killer Croc was aiming at them. Nightwing wasn't able to put his full effort towards fighting, still concerned for the civilian in a cotton hoodie and a biker helmet. He had seen his fair share of deaths by people who attempted to play a superhero, and he didn't want to see another one.

Killer Croc swung, and the other person narrowly managed to duck away, ending up back next to Nightwing once again. "Does it normally take Batman this long to get here? Or is this just his off day." She said, breathing heavy.

Nightwing opened his mouth to say something, but once more they were interrupted. Killer Croc had let out a loud howl, clawing at his back. As he turned Nightwing could see it was a Batarang sticking out between the scales. They both turned their attention up to the roof behind Killer Croc, watching as Batman dropped onto the street.

"Where's junior?" The girl asked.

"Nightwing? Letting civilians into an active fight?" Damian spoke up from behind them.

Nightwing wasn't even that surprised that Damian had entered behind them, he probably just wanted to cover all points of entry. But the mystery person seemed to go rigid upon hearing Damian's voice, tenser than they had been the entire time they had been fighting against a giant crocodile man.

Then, despite all common sense, she turned around, her shoulders shaking as she caught sight of Damian.

"Don't turn your back to him!" Damian shouted, but it was too late.

Killer Croc moved faster than any of them were expecting him to. So much faster. He lashed out, grabbing onto her head and squeezing with a sickening crunch.

Now, Nightwing had seen people die. Batman had seen people die. Robin had seen people die.

But it doesn't get easier. Especially when not as violent as this. The helmet cracked, and there was a spray of blood from between Croc's fingers.

Batman, as always, moved fastest. He was moving before Killer Croc had even finished squeezing, pulling the strongest bomb he had out of his belt.

Killer Croc turned to meet Batman, tossing the limp body back to where Nightwing had parked his motorcycle. By the time he had turned, however, Batman had already planted the bomb on his side.

"Get down!" Batman barked, and Nightwing and Robin dropped to the ground, shielding themselves. There was a bang, a roar, and then a thud. The bomb wasn't enough to kill him, but it would knock him out long enough for the authorities to come and collect him again. Which would give them time to deal with the body he dropped.

But when they looked back, she wasn't laying where Killer Croc had tossed her.

There was a pool of blood and some shards of the helmet, but the body those things belonged to had somehow gotten up and was sitting on Nightwing's bike. Her helmet was still cracked, and they could see some shards of plastic and glass sticking out of the exposed skin they could see.

She turned her head to look at them, a single eye exposed. She stared at Damian, who stared back. She revved the motorcycle, her eye shifting over to Dick briefly before pivoting, taking off down the street.

It took Damian and Dick a moment to process what just happened. They had seen heroes be mortally wounded and still recover, but that should have killed her. They had never seen someone brush off something like that so easily.

"We need to go after her!" Damian protested, turning to Batman.

Bruce was standing, staring down the opposite end of the street.

"You called the batmobile already, didn't you?" Nightwing said. Lo and behold, a few seconds later, the heavily armored vehicle came speeding around the corner. The top slid open and Bruce easily jumped in, holding up a hand when Damian moved forward to get in as well.

"No. I want you to go back to the manor and look at the footage from any nearby security cameras and analyze the blood left behind."

Bruce left no room for argument, but that never stopped Damian.

"I can help!" He protested, but the top was already sliding closed. Damian ran forward, hoping to stop the car, but it was already racing past them, following the stolen motorcycle, and leaving Nightwing and Robin alone on that street, the memory of what just happened still fresh in their mind.

* * *

**A/N**

**Hello! I am dipping my toes back into writing fanfiction, so here is my newest attempt! I don't know if I will continue this, but I suppose I'll have to see if people enjoy this. **

**Leave a review if you liked this! Who knows, maybe I'll add more chapters. ;)**


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